Mr. Parker
Mr. Parker (Japanese: ナガイ Nagai) is a character of the day who appeared in The Superhero Secret.
Mr. Parker owns and operates a toy store located in a town somewhere between the Charicific Valley and Azalea Town, and was best known by his superhero pseudonym Gligarman (Japanese: グライガーマン Gligerman) before he retired.
The character of Gligarman was invented by Mr. Parker so he could build up business for his shop. By acting as Gligarman, and then creating figurines, toys, and other merchandise items he was able to sell these to the people living in his town who had grown fond of their local superhero. To help fight crime, Mr. Parker (as Gligarman) used his Pokémon Gligar and his "Gligar Cycle", a type of motorcycle. Reminiscent of other, fictional superheroes, Gligarman used a secret hideout—the Gligarcave—hidden under his mansion. Although once extremely in shape, Gligarman's age had caught up with him and he had become noticeably more tubby. This led to difficulties in acting as Gligarman.
Mr. Parker was first shown in his Gligarman costume and, without revealing his true identity, he helped to save Togepi from Team Rocket. Ash and friends later encountered him in his toy shop, and Mr. Parker had to try to hide his identity. Togepi's liking for the shop owner hinted that they had encountered him previously, and Mr. Parker almost gave the game away by using Misty's name, despite Misty never mentioning it to Mr. Parker. After some probing questions, Mr. Parker and his daughter, Latoya confessed and took the trio for a visit in their mansion. Here, it was revealed that Mr. Parker's declining health was forcing him to retire. He had Ash in mind as his replacement, but, following another intervention by Team Rocket, a new masked figure saved the day: Gligirl, who is actually Latoya. The town had a new hero now, and Gligarman was able to hang up his cape and return to his ordinary life as Mr. Parker.
Pokémon
| Debut | The Superhero Secret |
|---|---|
| Voice actors | |
| Japanese | Koichi Sakaguchi |
| English | Koichi Sakaguchi |
Mr. Parker's Gligar was his sidekick when he is Gligarman and first appeared to Ash and his friends in the forest, jumping from tree to tree before disappearing. It then appeared with Gligarman when Team Rocket had captured Ash and his friends. It saved Misty's Togepi that was stolen from here before attacking Jessie and sending Team Rocket running off in pain. It later appeared in "the Gligarcave", welcoming Ash and his friends including Mr. Parker's daughter Latoya. Suddenly, they found Team Rocket in the building, capturing the staff with James and Meowth dressed up as "the Metapod Men". They quickly went upstairs and confronted Team Rocket and Gligar was able to stop James, but Jessie and Meowth ran off to their Spinarak mecha.
After a new superhero known as "Gligirl" appeared (a new disguise of Mr. Parker's daughter Latoya), she ordered Gligar to free Mr. Parker, Ash and Pikachu which it successfully did and with the help of Pikachu were able to send Team Rocket blasting off. In the end, Latoya and Mr. Parker had a small argument over who would be the owner of Gligar before saying goodbye to Ash and his friends.
Gligar's known moves are Poison Sting and Swift.
Voice actors
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Trivia
- Unlike regular Gligar in the anime, Gligarman's costume is colored as Gligar was in the games prior to Generation V.
- Gligarman is a parody of Batman. His real name, Mr. Parker, may reference Peter Parker (whose secret identity is the superhero Spider-Man).
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This article is part of Project COD, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each one-time character of the Pokémon animated series. |
